State Dept. Buys $70K Of President Obama’s Books

Obama administration officials are defending the State Department’s decision to buy more than $70,000 of President Obama’s books, saying individual embassies provide books to help advance U.S. foreign policy.

“It’s the embassies themselves that make the decisions what American books to buy, and they make these decisions based on the interest in the country where they are,” said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

“These are not decisions that are made in Washington, and they are not decisions that are directed by Washington,” she said.